Love ‘em or hate ‘em, it’s hard to debate the massive mainstream appeal of tattoos. And though it’s become quite routine to see young people sporting impressive amounts of ink, one senior citizen is miles ahead of most “tatted up” youngsters.

Sixty-seven-year-old Charlotte Guttenberg lives her life according to a simple yet powerful motto. She says, “Some people buy art and hang it on the walls—I have it on my body.” And boy, she’s not kidding!

This late-in-life tattoo enthusiast actually has a Guinness World Record award for being the most tattooed female senior citizen. Yep, there’s an award for that!

Charlotte quite literally has turned herself into a work of art. The colorful designs she has chosen to ink on her body are simply mesmerizing.

So, what does it take to win this elusive title of “female senior citizen with the most tattoos” anyways? Well, when Charlotte was first assessed by Guinness, they discovered that a whopping 92 PERCENT of her body is covered in tattoos. It’s safe to say that this “old lady” isn’t playing around when it comes to expressing herself!

Her near full-body coverage has taken over 1,000 hours to tattoo, and she claims that the prize hasn’t made her rest on her laurels; she still sees blank patches of skin that she wants to fill with ink! “I have an area on the front of my chest and I also have a big area on my torso,” Charlotte says.

Now that you’re well-acquainted with Charlotte’s unique passion for all things body art, let’s dive into her motivation behind why she decided to become a walking masterpiece in the first place. Just like her chosen medium of self-expression, her reasoning behind the personal tattoo quest is just as fascinating.

In an official interview with the Guinness Book of World Records, she reveals that she “always wanted tattoos” but her now-deceased husband was not having it at all. She says, “His whole concept was that no lady should have a tattoo. But it didn’t stop me from wanting one.”

When her husband passed away 10 years ago, Charlotte decided that it was time to finally get inked. She saw it as a “gift” to herself. “It was a life-defining step for me,” she explains. “Every tattoo has a meaning to me. They all flow into a story…I decided that I wanted to do a bodysuit and I started working on it from that point forward.”

This “life-defining step” didn’t just lead her to having this gorgeous body, it also brought to her a new soulmate, her now-husband, Charles Helmke. The two lovebirds actually met in a tattoo parlor, and what’s even more amazing is the that Charlotte’s new hubby actually shares the Guinness title with her; he is the world’s most tattooed male senior citizen!

To learn more about Charlotte’s journey in ink, and to see even more photos of her breathtaking body art, be sure to click on LittleThings’ video below!

What do you think of Charlotte’s ink? Are you a tattoo enthusiast yourself? If so, what first prompted you to go under the needle? Tell us all about your thoughts and experiences in the comments section below!